A Seashore with a castle

Viola was one of a group of painters working in Rome in the early 17th century who popularised a new type of landscape painting , the “classical” landscape. This often included scenes from classical myth or from the Bible, and landscapes were firmly structured, with a sense of atmosphere. This painting, with its delightful but rather improbable architecture, and bustling figures, is also influenced by Flemish landscape painters of the early 17th century. It is one of a pair of morning and evening scenes. This one, full activity, represents morning.